The invention relates in general to an apparatus for conducting electroplating operations and in particular to an apparatus for rinsing electroplated articles or objects.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,208 issued on May 26, 1981 is hereby expressly incorporated by reference. U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,208 discloses an electroplating apparatus comprising a non-linear array of treating tanks having a central rinse tank. A plurality of showerheads are located around the rinse tank for spray rinsing articles in the rinse tank. A hoist or other apparatus is provided for moving the article or articles being treated from the treating or process tanks to the rinse tank. The discharge from the rinse tank flows to a two-way valve. In one position of the two-way valve, the rinse discharge flows to an ordinary sewer. In another position of the two-way valve, the rinse discharge flows to a set of concentrating tanks for concentrating the contaminants contained in the rinse discharge. Contaminants from the several treatment steps are not segregated, thereby complicating recovery operations for recovering any valuable contaminants. Further, the rinse tank itself is not fully cleaned after each rinse, further resulting in a mixing of contaminants in the rinse discharge water.
The present invention segregates the various contaminates from each treatment or process step, thereby resulting in a plurality of recovery tanks each containing only a single contaminant. Because each recovery tank contains only a single contaminant, the process of recovering that single contaminant, if desired, is simpler as compared to a recovery tank containing multiple contaminants. Furthermore, the present invention flushes the rinse tank each time an article is rinsed therein so that multiple contaminants are not mixed by virtue of residue remaining in the rinse tank. Further, the present invention permits a specific article to be immersed or submerged in a rinse fluid where different rinse fluid types may be used, for example, hot fluids, cold fluids, deionized water and non-aqueous based fluids. Further, the present invention includes a single rinse tank, which advantageously reduces precious manufacturing floor space. Accordingly, the present invention has a wide variety of commercial and non-commercial applications, including plating processes and electronics fabrication.